1100 Walks – ABOUT
1100 Walks is an exploration and celebration of Delhi, one of the most historic living cities of the world. Many cities, centuries and cultures come together to create the dynamic city of contemporary Delhi, and 1100 Walks takes you on a discovery of this multi-layered fabric. Our walks are conceptual, experiential and take you to the heart of Delhi; Innovatively, Intimately, P
assionately…
The walks are led by Himanshu Verma, one of India’s emerging arts curators, who runs a multi-disciplinary arts organization Red Earth based in New Delhi. Besides Himanshu’s practice as a curator, his other areas of interest and specialisation include the festivals of India, urban heritage and design, religion, history, food, gardening and nature; all of which find reflection in the explorations, making them rich and personal experiences of the great mega city of Delhi.
1100 Walks also offers workshops on various aspects related to Indian culture and the arts, like cooking workshops, floral decoration workshops, art and music appreciation workshops and more. In the coming months, we will also be offering special tours all over India, an extension of the 1100 philosophy, beyond Delhi to the diversity of Indian experience. WHY 1100?
1100 Walks is named after Delhi’s pin code prefix number. In addition, the number 11 also denotes a pair of legs in local Hindi usage and is often colloquially used as a symbol for walking (“I am getting there by bus no. 11” and so on…). Coincidentally, Bus no. 11 (an actual bus route, not a pair of legs) in London is a cheap way of sightseeing in the city!
11 is also important for Delhi in many ways. Historians regard 1100 as the closing of the classical age of Indian history and the start of the medieval era with Islamic invasions that crystallised into the Delhi Sultanate, Delhi’s first Islamic empire, in the late 1100s. The 1100s hence signal a new phase in the life of the city – that of exchange, syncreticism and new influences that have made Delhi one of the most cultural diverse cities of the world. Again, it was in 1911 in British India that the foundations of New Delhi were laid and that the city became the capital of modern India. The number 11 is considered a lucky and auspicious/ spiritual number in numerology and many religious traditions like Hinduism and Thelema. The day of Ekadasi, the eleventh day of the lunar month in the Hindu calendar is considered an auspicious and spiritually beneficial day in both Hinduism and Jainism. In Numerology the number 11 represents many positive traits: rare and exceptional energy originating from outside mundane reality, spiritual and divine enlightenment, inspiration, idealism, intuition & deep insight and artistic and inventive genius to name a few. Scientific theory alludes to eleven dimensions of reality that may exist. 11 is everywhere in the universe – not least in the freaky 11/11 phenomenon. Signifying unity and resolve, most games have teams of 11 people as well such as soccer or cricket. In Basque language, hamaika (“eleven”) has the double meaning of “infinite“, so join 1100 walks on an infinite discovery of Delhi…
